Gift Shopping Habits in the UK with What 2 buy 4 kids

Shopping…it’s an activity that most of us in the UK have in common. It’s one of our greatest pastimes and sometimes it feels like a sport! Are you a list-maker, a planner or an impulsive buyer and a whim purchaser? Have you got your Christmas shopping finished by the end of August or are you running out on Christmas Eve, trying to beat the crowds?

Do you ever think about our nation’s spending habits and wonder what we’re buying and when we’re buying it?

The team at what2buy4kids is just as curious as you are – that’s why we’ve broken down the UK’s gift shopping habits and uncovered some interesting facts about our national shopping trends.

Christmas Shopping Trends

Unsurprisingly, we spend the largest portion of our shopping money at Christmastime. Brits on average spend £645 on Christmas, from buying gifts to spending on food, drink, parties and socialising. Shoppers buy an average of 14 individual gifts with about £145 spent on our children.

According to our research, some of us are Christmas shopping all throughout the year and 5% of people have already finished their Christmas shopping in January. 53% of shoppers start shopping in November and 22% start in October.

UK parents spend more on kids than the rest of the world

The survey shows that on average, in Britain we spend $438 (£330 approx) on gifts per child, compared to $371 (£280 approx) spent in the US and $358 (£270 approx) spent in France. Considering that we are buying gifts for not only birthdays and Christmas but also for births, graduations, school achievements, and Christenings, it is easy to see how that figure soon ads up.

Shopping from gift registries is also on the rise, with more new parents making baby registries and even some birthday celebrations having a gift list. Most of us buy a gift off a registry list a week before the event, leaving it to the recipient to select what they want and letting the shopper make the transaction just before the event, rather than looking around for what they would want weeks ahead of time.